April 2011 MMA News Archive

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Five-round fights are currently reserved only for championship bouts in the UFC, but that may not be the case for long.
On Friday, UFC President Dana White discussed the possibility of big -- but not title -- fights using the 25-minute time limit.
“We’re very close to [implementing five-round non-title fights]” White revealed during the Fan Expo Q&A session while promoting UFC 129.
The extra two rounds for important fights would likely help to prevent those bouts from ending in draws, as in the recent case of B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch at UFC 127 in February. However, the UFC boss says he had another bout in mind for the promotion's inaugural foray into five-rounders without a title on the line. “We were actually going to start it with Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos [at UFC 131], but we had already made the fight,” White said. “But we already made the fight, so it’s kind of hard to go back to those guys after you already make the fight and say that it is going to be five [rounds] instead of three.”
Though the UFC head has discussed the topic of five and even seven-round fights in the past, this appears to be the most serious iteration of that discussion. Though White has also expressed his desire to see seven-round title fights, that topic was not broached on Friday.

A welterweight bout between Mike Pierce (12-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) and Johny Hendricks (10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) is in the works for UFC 133. A source close to the negotiations told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) the competitors have agreed to the bout. However, bout agreements haven't been signed, and UFC officials haven't announced the fight. UFC 133 takes place Aug. 6 in Philadelphia. The city's Wells Fargo Center is expected to host the pay-per-view event. Pierce vs. Hendricks likely will be part of the PPV broadcast or a preliminary-card teaser that airs or streams in some form.

One day short of a full calendar year, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is making its return to England on Oct. 15.MMAFighting.com reported the return on Wednesday and stated Liverpool's 11,000-seat Echo Arena likely will play host.While Liverpool is the leading candidate, a source close to the show told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) Nottingham's 10,000-seat National Ice Centre also has been reserved as a possible backup site.

You'd think Dana White would learn. He was forced to apologize after calling Loretta Hunt (then of Sherdog) a "******* dumb bitch" and her anonymous source a "faggot" and a "*****" in April of 2009 (video here). (As a side note, try to find video of the apology. The UFC took down the official video (it was the lead in to a fight week video blog), and I've had no luck finding a transcript. If I remember correctly, the apology was more PR move than legitimate remorse.)It looked like Dana White had himself under control. Sure, he'll always have that aggressive and abrasive Alpha Male personality, but it seemed as if someone got in his ear and told him to, you know, think before you say something.

An injury has forced Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto out of UFC 130 and in to replace him will be Michael McDonald stepping to face Chris Cariaso on the May card. The UFC announced the new bout late Wednesday“Kid Yamamoto has withdrawn from his May 28th bout vs Chris Cariaso due to injury,” said UFC President Dana White. “In his place will be UFC’s youngest fighter and one of it’s most exciting, Michael McDonald, who is coming off a recent Fight of The Night performance. Chris Cariaso carries a great record of his own with a fast style and he plans on cementing his place in the bantamweight division with a win over the highly touted prospect. Both have verbally agreed to the fight.

A welterweight bout between Diego Sanchez (23-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) and Matt Hughes (45-8 MMA, 18-6 UFC) has been tapped for a to-be-announced UFC event in the fall, officials today announced.
No date or location were announced for the fight.
The booking, though, all but assures that UFC Hall of Famer Royce Gracie won't get his desired rematch with Hughes at August's UFC 134 event in Brazil.

TORONTO – Boxing is looking better than ever for Nick Diaz.
Two weeks after the Strikeforce welterweight champion's manager announced the fighter would take a break from MMA for a high-profile pro-boxing fight, the UFC appears receptive to the idea.
Of course, the boxing match is in Diaz's current contract.
"What I'm going to do is I'm going to sit down with Nick," UFC president Dana White today said. "I like the Diaz brothers. I'm going to sit down with him, and we'll figure out what he wants to do."

There's a reason fans didn't see Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Nick Diaz or Miller vs. Tim Kennedy, and it has nothing to do with weight or scheduling.
According to Diaz's trainer Cesar Gracie, the move of "Mayhem" from Strikeforce to the UFC was based in part on Showtime's disinterest in putting him on the premium-cable channel.
I don't buy this at all.

Hobby Star Marketing, a company which holds pop culture conventions for comic books, science fiction and other pop culture phenomena has sued the UFC over it's use of the Fan Expo name this weekend in Toronto. One of Hobby Star's largest events is FanExpo Canada and they have filed an injunction at the last minute against the UFC. From Comic Book Resources:
In the federal court statement obtained by CBR News, Hobby Star has filed for trade-mark infringement on the name "Fan Expo" as well as the slogan "The Ultimate Fan Experience" and the web domain www.ufcfanexpo.com. The papers were filed in a Toronto federal court and make no mention of previous UFC events labeled as "Fan Expos" such as a London, England event last summer, nor do they mention anything about the company's potential plans for a Fan Expo in Las Vegas this summer. This is likely because Hobby Star only have the "Fan Expo" trademark registered within Canada.
Zuffa, as legal owners of all names and trade-marks associated with the UFC, are listed as the primary defendant while Reed takes a secondary role in the brief as the organizer of the event, which is set to kick off this Friday at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto.
The document reveals that Hobby Star seeks an injunction against promoting or selling anything involving the mark and slogan as well as an order to "deliver up or destroy upon oath all clothing, goods labels, packages, advertising materials, signage, printed matter, including all plats, moulds, matrices, and other material for producing or printing such items and any other matter or materials in print or electric form" that fall under the offending names. Additionally, in its case Hobby Star cites the fact that a Reed employee named John McGeary was formerly associated with Fan Expo Canada in some capacity and therefore had knowledge of the trade-mark's use in Canada.

The welterweight division in Strikeforce is looking for a new contender to challenge Nick Diaz whenever he’s ready to do MMA again. The man who wants the job is former Missouri wrestler and 8-0 fighter Tyron Woodley.
Woodley is coming off a win over Tarec Saffiedine in January. He has been rising up the ranks ever since he started fighting back in early 2009.
Woodley sat cageside during the title fight between Nick Diaz and Paul Daley recently, with a close eye on the action, hoping to challenge the victor sometime soon.
First things first, Woodley will need to get another win or two. This is according to Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, who believes Woodley has all the tools to present a serious challenge to Diaz, but just not right now.

Chuck Liddell knows a thing or two about defending a championship. The "Iceman" captured the UFC light-heavyweight title and held it for two years before relinquishing the crown. Georges St. Pierre has held a UFC belt even longer. He won the undisputed welterweight title in April 2008, so a successful title defense over Jake Shields at this weekend's UFC 129 will make it three years and counting at the top.
Liddell, though, has his doubts about St. Pierre getting there. In a Monday interview on The MMA Hour, Liddell said he thinks the challenger is likely to walk away with the belt.
"I'm siding with Jake," Liddell said. "Jake's going to have to take him down. I'm expecting him to be in great shape for the fight. He'll be in great shape for GSP. But yeah, I expect him to take him down and finish him."

If you're a UFC fighter who's unhappy about being pressured into fighting your friends and teammates, don't come crying to B.J. Penn.
The former UFC welterweight and lightweight champion said on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour that it's all part of the game, and fighters should plan accordingly.
"I think teammates have to fight each other, and I knew that the whole time," Penn said. "That's why I would always distance myself. Of course they have to. I always thought it was B.S. that [Josh] Koscheck and [Jon] Fitch wouldn't have to fight, but they can just keep taking turns going for title shots, but they never had to fight each other? That doesn't make sense."

The first fights for August's UFC on Versus 5 event are in the works.
UFC officials today announced that verbal agreements are in place for lightweights T.J. O'Brien (16-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) vs. Cole Miller (17-5 MMA, 6-3 UFC) and welterweights Duane "Bang" Ludwig (20-11 MMA, 3-2 UFC) vs. Amir Sadollah (5-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC).
Although not officially announced by the organization, UFC on Versus 5 is expected to take place Aug. 14, possibly in Milwaukee.

For the first time ever, all seven UFC champions will take the stage simultaneously, and the organization is proving a live web stream of the Friday event.
The "Super 7" presentation takes place at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto.
MMAjunkie.com will provide a live stream of the session and the following UFC 129 weigh-ins beginning at 3:15 p.m. ET (12:15 p.m. PT).

Nate Diaz isn’t the only Cesar Gracie Fight Team member who's had a tough time getting into Canada.
In fact, the team's namesake said he ran into red tape and won't be attending UFC 129 this Saturday in Toronto.
"I don't have the American passport thing going – I have the whole Brazilian thing, and I had issues getting a visa over there," Cesar Gracie today told MMAjunkie.com Radio. "I'm going to watch like you guys on TV."

OK, before we all start dumping Haterade on Randy Couture, let us state for the record that in the following new video interview with Steve Cofield he still sounds pretty certain he’ll be retiring after UFC 129. In fact, Couture seems a little bit pissed off at this point that people keep asking him about it. Chalk it up to run-of-the-mill fight-week orneriness maybe, but we think we detect a slight edge creeping into “The Natural’s” voice when Cofield claims “one of his media buddies” got a text from Dana White that sums up Couture’s plan to call it quits after this weekend’s fight with Lyoto Machida by saying: “Retire? Not if he wins.”
“It doesn’t matter if I win or not,” Couture sort of snaps. “I know them, I know Dana. He’s got plans already and it doesn’t matter to me. He’s going to really have to step up if he thinks I’m going to come back out (of retirement). I don’t think that’s going to happen. There’s a lot of younger guys … Jon Jones is the perfect example. They offered me that fight in the fall. Nobody wants to fight that cat right now. I don’t see that battle in my future.”

After season-worst ratings a week prior, Bellator Fighting Championship saw a solid rebound with this past weekend's Bellator 42 event.
Overall, ratings for the April 23 event were up 51 percent from the previous week and resulted in an average audience of 199,000 viewers on MTV2.